A Plague upon a Hallowed House

One of the many changes that seem to be looming is the shift in the public political landscape. The greatest economy in the history of the world has been throttled and shut down on purpose. Unprecedented. And fearless; no one really knew what would happen and seemingly does not know now. One might debate the reasons and the methods but rarely does one hear the questioning of the shutdown's legality. Does our governmental framework allow such an act?
The very framework of government, the very limits placed upon government is to prevent spontaneity. To prevent some Good Idea to leap into the minds of some well-meaning Robespierre. Discouraging talk should be suppressed! Retarded people should not have children! The framework of the U.S. was to protect certain inalienable rights first. Only then could the Good Idea of the moment threaten us. The biggest change of the last months is not the huge ambition of the government but the ease with which it insinuated itself into our lives.



                  A Plague upon a Hallowed House

The Plague has given stimulus for a lot of speculation. Will we start doing with less? Will we triage those elaborations in our lives, waitstaff for take-out, planes for cars, distance for local? Things--and beings--under pressure, change. The idealism of youthful Bernie-supporters may become more practical, desires may become hierarchical. We may return to a time of "making do" rather than "doing without."

Pressures have caused great declines in areas without substitutions. Religion. Parenting. Basic institutions have not fared well. But no group is as vulnerable as education.

Tuition jumped nearly 30 percent nationwide from 2007-2008 to 2014-2015, while real median income fell roughly 6.5 percent, according to Paul Friga of ABC Consulting. Student debt is now at more than $1.6 trillion. The economic downturn caused by Covid-19 shutdowns will likely be much worse than the 2008 recession. For now, most college presidents in one recent poll said that they were not contemplating a tuition increase; there is little reason to believe that that intention will last.

The coronavirus threatens tuition dollars, government support, and alumni giving. Some high school seniors are reconsidering their plans to start college this fall—roughly 12 percent to 15 percent, depending on the poll. Some say they want to stay closer to home; some are concerned about their family’s finances. A third of seniors in one poll were considering less expensive institutions. A whole branch of enrollment consulting is devoted to rustling up foreign students, since they usually pay full tuition. That sector is especially at risk, including Chinese students who may have a harder time getting a student visa and who may fear difficulties in returning home.

Many colleges are starting "distance learning," college from a laptop at home. Almost no college is considering a tuition rebate, which implies that online learning should be valued at the same rate as an on-campus class. Students and their parents may start to ask why they should pay astronomical fees for a campus experience if they can get the same instruction over the web.

In June 2017, college endowments contained $568 billion, according to economist Richard Vedder in Restoring the Promise. Princeton had nearly $3 million in endowment for every student; Harvard, $1.2 million per student. But 73 percent of presidents polled by the Association of American Colleges & Universities in late March said that they were not planning to increase spending from their endowments during the Covid-19 crisis. Instead, some students are reaching out directly to alumni for support, apparently feeling abandoned by their schools; the Harvard Club of Louisiana asked its members to contribute to a student-organized fund to help undergraduates burdened by Harvard’s vacate-campus mandate.

The higher-education establishment is complaining about its $14.5 billion coronavirus bailout package. That taxpayer subsidy is “woefully inadequate,” the president of the American Council on Education said in a written statement; $50 billion was the bare minimum needed to keep the sector afloat, according to ACE and other college associations.

Twenty percent of private colleges are at risk of closing due to the current economic downturn, according to Robert Zemsky.

There are a host of conflicts here, a number of factors. But education has so many components to consider. As in any business, survival depends on a number of elements. But one essential element is the business must understand itself, it must know what it actually is providing. In education, that question must be faced honestly. And bravely.

(a lot from MacDonald)